The difficulty of time registers of this type in an office is that clerks and workers of a similar character regard it as a method which they ought to resent. They consider they are not socially of the same status as the working people employed in the factory, and resent being treated in the same way. Difficulties have arisen in offices through the introduction of this machine for such a reason. This influence may be corrected by tact on the part of the employer. If one of these time-recording devices is used, the principal himself and all heads of departments should have numbers allotted to them and be cheerfully punctilious in indicating their arrival on the machine. The example set is generally sufficient to counteract the suggestion that the workers in the office arc being put on the same footing as the people in the factory. As time goes on, and the absolute fairness of this machine is established, the resentment quickly dies away, and if sufficient care is exercised in dealing with backsliders the unpunctual habits of an office will be found to be on the improve. A great point in office discipline is to see that every one is amenable to the rule, and to make as few excep tions as possible to members who are privileged to start later than the ordinary business hours. The ideal condition is to have no such exceptions. If the head of a department is permitted to come in half-an-hour later, his stair will almost certainly become correspondingly lax. Even when they
arrive to time they are very apt to spend the half-hour between 9 o'clock and 9.30, the time when the head of that department arrives, in doing anything but the actual work for which they are employed. It is almost impossible to enforce punctuality unless prominent members of the stair ,cheerfully subscribe to the office routine.
In retail shops where a large number of hands are employed, the same problem of unpunetuality is apt to assert itself The best solution in this case is certainly the time-registering machine. In a shop with many depart ments the practice of signing on or personally reporting oneself is awkward and loses a great deal of time. _In addition, people who arc actually in time have sometimes to wait just sufficiently long before signing on to put them selves late. This difficulty is avoided by the time register, by which any number of people may record their arrival with only the loss of a fraction of a second. In addition, in a large shop with two or three entrances, all sonic distance away from the various points where the members of the staff work, the automatic register simplifies the task of checking time, as one may be placed at each entrance. H. F. LE BA s.
Governing Director, Caxtcn Publishing CO.